An opening song tells a lot about the rest of an album.

It’s usually the first one that’s played – unless the buyer is a single junkie and skips straight to the song he or she heard on the radio.

Although the first song on This Day & Age’s latest release, “the bell and the hammer,” might not have been the best pick for such, it does give a preview of what is to come – long, lyric-driven songs that have a lot of variation.

“More of a Climb, Less of a Walk” doesn’t jump out at the listener. It could turn some people off.

It starts with slow vocals and lyrics. But fans of the New York-based band should keep listening – it does get heavier (and better) as the song goes along. More guitars, piano sounds and background vocals help it out.

But some might want to turn it before it’s over – it’s about two minutes too long, clocking in at about six and a half minutes.

Turners won’t miss much – the end is just repeated lyrics and some guitars, similar to a lot of parts of songs on the album.

This CD would be much better if some of the songs were cut in half (or at least chopped a little). There are a handful that are about five to six minutes long, which is just sometimes too much to listen to, especially for first-timers of the group.

“Of Course We’ve All Seen the Sun” is almost a pointless song. It features heavy piano, then adds some drums. It’s all instruments for more than a minute. Then there are only a few vocals that are almost not understandable most of the time, which could easily bore the listener.

But the whole album isn’t a bore.

“Winter Winter Spring,” which is only almost four minutes, is dancey at times and very lyric driven – “Hey, that’s the wrong way – you can go your own way – I’ve never been so lost – I tried to be in control – yes, it’s true – I’m the one who needs you.”

“Second Star to the Right” has lots of piano mixed with guitars, almost Billy Joel-esque at times, except for the vocals, which could be considered reminiscent of Modern Skirts.

The title track also might not be the best pick to name the album after.

It starts off with slow lead vocals and airy background ones and some soft background instruments that are xylophone-like.

Then, almost a minute into it there’s a turn at a heavy beat that could almost scare the listener before going into heavier vocals and guitars.

To most listeners, especially fans of the band, the album is worth the $13.

Some buyers just may have to do some editing with the fast forward button.